Saturday, December 31, 2011

See you later 2011! I'm looking forward to 2012! I know I say it every year but I am...I am really looking forward to hopefully a new shiny sparkly year ahead! I can feel it, it is going to be better. However, taking a few minutes to think about all that we have done over the last year, well, it wasn't so bad. Here we go, a few moments of 2011 that I love and made me smile!:)

{January}

We spent the New Year's in the Netherlands with Beau and his family. My second time visiting Amsterdam during a day out with Beau's college friends, and another reminder of what a cool city it is.

{February}

My girlfriends from Washington come to visit and even though I had to work most of the weekend, I was able to show them a little of where I live and my life here.

{March}

My college girlfriends come to visit. We were so excited to celebrate our mama to be Brandi and spent a day driving up to Palm Beach and window shopping around crazy Worth Avenue.

{April}

Yep, Kate Middleton become the Duchess! I threw a fabulous Royal Party, you can see it here and here. Kate and William cookies, lots of teacups and flowers and some fun stuff by Miss Merry Laura!

We flew to Boston to celebrate my papa's 60th birthday! A game at the Fenway park with personalized party decor just for my sweet Dad, what a fun weekend!

{May}

Beau and I ran the Seven Mile bridge run in the Keys. We fell in love with Islamorada in the Keys and returned a few weeks later with his parents. Honestly, its beautiful and so close to us! 2012, I must visit more often!

{June}

After studying abroad in London during college I was SO excited to spend vacation back in the UK! Honestly, London, well I love that city! It's like NYC but British, can it get better? A few days in London shopping in their amazing stores, drinking cocktails and visiting with Beau's friends.

We went to Ireland and stayed at amazing hotel that was once a castle, yes, I felt like a princess. The sheep were so pretty running around the fields....everywhere!

{July}

I travelled to Washington to celebrate my best friend since 2nd grade's baby shower! William {get it Will-yum!} was showered with love for sure! Check out his cute little life here. I couldn't be happier for the Rose family!

{August}

Floridian Weddings launched, love this blogger pic of Laura and me that Robert took in my back yard! I had introduced myself to Laura a few months back and we clicked, our love for weddings turned into the fabulous site. Honestly, one of the best things that has happened during my move to Florida, hands down, yes! Make sure to follow us here! Thank you ALL for all of your support, our site continues to grow day by day!

Baby Sam arrived early to my best friend Brandi, healthy and adorable he was a little guy! I also got a little guy, Oliver arrived at our house and we love him every day...our puppy! I went to adorable Newport, RI for my first time to celebrate one of my besties at her bachelorette party.

{September}

A big month for me! Beau turned 34 and I turned.......30! I had talked about the big 3-0 for months and months and months! After a big debate of what to do and what to purchase {hee hee, remember this post}.

My birthday present to myself arrived, all shiny and red!

Beau and my DC girlfriends had planned a whole weekend of fun! I went to the Design Sponge Book Signing, a day at the Virginia Wineries and an amazing private wine dinner in Virginia with all of my favorite ladies!

Beau, he is the best!

My family came to Florida for my actual 30th and we rang it in pink all weekend long!

{October}

We travelled to Martha's Vineyard for Emily and George's wedding. We finally got to meet little Sam!!!! And we fell in love with Martha's Vineyard and now I want to live there;)

Auntie Christa with little Sam. Too cute.

Some of the gang after a long bike ride in the Vineyard....way to go soon to be mama Jenn!

And here she is, the stunning Bride! Congrats Emily!!! I posted a bit about her wedding here, it was beautiful!

I put together an amazing photo shoot with Laura full of sparkles, bubbly and lots of love! It is excited me again about what I love to do...more to come on that later:)

I went to Washington for a quick visit to meet little William Rose, caught up with old friends and was so glad to discover the amazing Fifteen Eleven shop in Old Town, can we move there?

We enjoyed every second with our puppy Oliver....after chewing lots of flip flops and breaking a few things....he is still adorable! I mean, how cute is he in the Pumpkin Patch!

{November}

Beau had to work all weekend so decided to go to Virginia for Thanksgiving to celebrate with my parents at their new house, my Gramie and my sister. A beautiful and relaxing weekend in the North, I loved it. Horses in their backyard, really! Such a nice holiday. I always wish I lived closer to my family!

{December}

More to come about my amazing Christmas in Cleveland, but honestly, it was such a wonderful holiday! My whole family and Beau's parents came from Holland. My oldest sister went all out {not surprised!} and it was a fun filled holiday full of cocktails, karaoke and too many cookies. A 20 hour drive, 14 hours with Oliver, it was still wonderful!

Friday, December 30, 2011

A few weeks ago me and my little puppy Sir Oliver had a little secret photo shoot! The amazing Shelly from Doggy Studio came to my house while Beau was at work and shot a few hours of me and Oliver. It was SO much fun and I can't help but laugh and smile when I look at these photos!

The completed project was a surprise for Christmas and Beau loved it!

Seriously! How cute is he? One of Oliver's favorite places to hang out is in our back yard and he was quite the poser.

I had no idea how photogenic my little puppy was! Check out Doggy Studio's blog for more of the photos from our shoot. Anybody who has a dog and is looking for some amazing memorable photos, I highly recommend giving them a call. They were truly wonderful and fun to work me and well, Sir Oliver!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Ok, I know, you might not think of Beyonce and Intentions in the same sentence. However, after watching this video I loved Miss Beyonce even more! I have always thought she is fabulous and now, I think so even more! Like I said in my earlier post, I have been thinking a lot about my intention, my passions, whats next, what is important. Even though she is a huge mega celebrity, it is nice to hear we all think this. Watch it!

It's Wednesday, the week between Christmas and the New Year, I took off this week of work and have been oh so looking forward to relaxing a bit and getting some things on my to do wish list accomplished. Beau and I drove a insane 20 hour drive to my oldest sisters house in Cleveland Ohio {amazing Christmas!} and wow, I had a lot of time to think along the way. To think of what my year has been. To think of what my life has been like since I moved to Florida. To think of what lies ahead of me in 2012 and the next year and the next.

I was browsing around on the amazing Making Things Happen site and saw a few of these quotes and felt a little touched by them. I have been feeling a bit lost, not going to lie, and to those of you who know me well, you are not surprised. It took a lot of me to move to Florida almost two years ago, it has been flip flops since. I was torn between leaving the Northeast and heading here. I love being here with my Beau and wouldn't change that ever, but on a personal and professional level I am just not sure what is next for me. I feel like that part of me I left behind and am trying to find still.

I absolutely LOVE when I read what Emily wrote "Are you filling your precious minutes with the work that makes your heart sing? ". All I thought was, I WAN'T MY HEART TO SING!!! I turned 30 in September and what was I thinking, I would wake up, get out of bed, look in the mirror and my mind would say, "___ is what you should do!". nope. Didn't happen.

So thank you Mr. Jobs for writing this amazing quote and for making me to really start thinking about myself and what is next for me. I have never before really hoped for a new year and I am wishing and hoping that ever day in 2012 is a step forward in making what I want happen...figuring out what that is and doing it. Here is to a fabulous amazing 2012!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Here we go! Today we are off to Cleveland for Christmas! Packing up the car, yes, you read correctly, the car, not heading to the airport....and driving to Cleveland. We decided that after finding insanely priced airline tickets and boarding our little puppy, we have the time, lets drive. So Beau, Oliver and I are packing up the car and driving 14 hours to Virginia, picking up my parents and heading 7 hours more to Cleveland. I am really looking forward to a fully packed holiday with our whole family, boyfriends and Beau's parents, nine of us I think. I love big holidays! If I don't have time to write before then....MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! I hope you have a wonderful holiday, lots of cocktails, too many cookies, holiday tunes, sparkly shirts and lots of fun.

I saw this art display at Art Basel in Miami a few weeks ago. Unfortunately I do not have the artist written down, do you know? A cart of packages...I thought it was quite perfect for the holiday season:)!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

I am having a little get together at my house tonight and I wanted to add some flowers to the table, but I didn't want to spend a lot. I thought to use all of my existing vases and containers and buy some inexpensive and simple white flowers from the grocery store.

This is actually my blue desk that we are using as a table during the holidays since the tree is taking up its space.

The white feather tree was a Martha Stewart Kmart purchase in college....I LOVE IT! I hope it lives on forever, it was a steal. Martha use to have quite some cute stuff at Kmart, now when was the last time I was there?

Baby's breathe in big snowballs...kind of looks like snow? Kind of!

My mom gave me this white milk glass artichoke vase she found at an antique store in Virginia. Some white cheap carnations and I think it is adorable!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Happy Sunday everyone! It is sunny and shiny here in Fort Lauderdale this morning. It just dawned on me as I woke up that next week is...Christmas! Woo hoo! I can't wait. In preparation for our 20 mile drive to Cleveland to my sisters, a holiday cocktail party at my house this week, cleaning and well finishing my shopping, I'll be hanging out at home all day today! Yay! I hope you have a beautiful day. Here is what I've been reading this week...

I saw this gift wrap ideas from A Creative Mint and just absolutely LOVED them. Use grocery bags and different tags and these packages are adorable.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Ever since I saw the new Prada Candy perfume I have been so intrigued about how it smells. A grown up, designer perfume that is yes...pink and has a caramel scent....hmmm sounds like something I may love! Yes, I might be 30, but I guess I am still a 16 year old at heart. Any of you still loving pink, candy like sweaters and jewels? I'm sure if it isn't you, there is that girly girl on your list!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Last week I wrote about our tabletop challenge over at Floridian Weddings. This weekend I finally put it together! My sister was visiting and baking holiday cookies as I was setting up the table, it completely put me in the holiday spirit! I was lucky to snap these photos before my cute little Puppy Oliver went running around with the table linen and my champagne glasses went smashing down, oh well. I hope you like what I created.

See the rest of the details on my table and the other tabletops over on Floridian Weddings. Laura and I are so excited on how our tables and the other three Florida bloggers {Sarah, Alex & Marianne} have turned out! What do you think of my Rosy & Romantic tabletop?